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CVMA Winter Series 2018-19

I started my attempt to complete the entire Chuckwalla Valley Motorcycle Association's Winter Series last weekend.

It was a really hot weekend with temperatures at 111F according to the various forecasting websites. Some people recorded temps over 115 in the paddock. Attendance was light this round due to the weather.

Saturday:
Amateur Supersport Open:
Qualified 2nd on the grid out of 9, 8 started the race and 6 of us finished. I got the holeshot because the pole-sitter forgot to put his bike in gear. Overtaken in the first lap and maintained 2nd place for the rest of the race with 7 seconds of track in front and behind. Best lap:1:58.5

Amateur Formula Open:
In the outrageous heat the grid dropped to 3 riders, got the holeshot again thanks to the pole-sitters trouble with starts. Got passed again in the first lap, satisfied I couldn't catch the leader and far enough ahead of 3rd I cruised to the finish in 2nd. Best lap was out lap at 2:02.5

Sunday:
Amateur Formula Open:
5 people on grid this time, once again I am second on the grid. I got the holeshot for the 3rd time in the weekend. Held on to the lead for a lap and a bit this time. Got passed twice in rapid succession and managed to stay pretty close to the leaders. 3rd place for this race. Best lap: 1:56.9

Amateur Supersport Open:
5 riders on the grid again. Basically on pole because of absenteeism. Did not get the holeshot this time, but fought hard for the lead. I made a couple good passes on the leader, but got re-passed both times. The guy that finished first had jumped the start, earned himself a 5 second penalty, giving me the win. He was also on a BMW S1000RR HP4 Race which costs over $80,000 and has 30+ more hp and is +/- 40lbs lighter than my 2012 RSV4. I look forward to beating him across the stripe for real. Best lap: 1:58.0

Round 2 Highlights!

Super great weather this past weekend with temperatures in the upper 90s. Track conditions were great and 5 classes saw a new lap record.

Saturday
I started out the weekend running the Dunlop 200/55 profile rear tire for my practice sessions before switching to the new Dunlop 200/60. After hearing about a ton of set up drama from others who have made the switch, I really didn't know what to expect.

Qualifying
I went out for Qualifying on the new tire and was the last rider to show up. I went out and did a slow out lap to give myself some room to try to get a good lap without traffic. On my first flying lap I set a 1:55.9 (new PB in the clockwise direction) which I figured would be good to go, so I did a cool down lap and came in. Wound up 2nd on the grid! Apparently my bike was already set up pretty well for the new tire. Time to race!

Races
Race 1 Amateur SuperSport Open (ASSO) - Had a pretty good start and got the holeshot. Held the lead for 1 lap but got passed by two other riders in lap 2. This race had a huge field and was a 2 wave start with Experts first and then us. Lots of craziness trying to race through Expert backmarker traffic. Used the traffic to my advantage on the last lap and wound up in 2nd place.....until I got pipped at the line. Wound up in 3rd by 0.014s. Overall 3rd/16. 1:55.4 (new best lap!)

Race 2 Amateur Formula Open (AMFO) - Terrible start, went from 2nd on the grid to 5th through T1. Went to downshift from 4th to 3rd and realized my shift lever was jacked up. I had tipped the bike over in the paddock at a previous track day and didn't realize the rearsets were a bit banged up. While fiddling with it during the race I managed (unfortunately) to upshift to 6th, and couldn't get it to downshift. Still managed to bring it home in 6th/9 and was able to do 2:00 lap times in 6th gear.

Sunday Practice
Got the rearset issue fixed, and sat out 1st practice to let the temps come up. On my way to 2nd practice it is pointed out to me that I have a flat rear tire. Manage to get tire inflated enough to practice and get new rear on spare wheel for the race. Still have yet to figure out what is going on with that rear rim. Feeling a little frazzled by all of the mechanical issues and our group is up for Race 1 of the day.
RacesRace 1 (AMFO) - 2nd on the grid, I manage to hold 2nd for a lap. I got passed by the dude on the BMW HP4 and he put a pretty big gap on me right away. A lap or two later I realize I am reeling him in. I managed to pass him back with just under half a lap to go and held on to 2nd by 0.189s. 2nd/7 1:54.2 (yet another new personal best).

Race 2 (ASSO) - 2nd on the grid again, mediocre start. Wound up pretty far off the pace in 3rd. Around lap 3 I watch the guy in 2nd crash out. 1st place is so far up the road, and the now 3rd place rider is so far behind, I cruise home to an easy 2nd place out of 5. 1:56.0

Lots of improvement this round I think my previous best in this direction was a 1:57.1, and I was able to get down to a 1:54.2.
Still leading in the points for Amateur SuperSport Open. However, the guy in 2nd overall (ZX10 guy) is definitely faster than me and will soon overtake me in the points if things continue as they are now. He had missed a race in Round 1 which gave me the points lead early, but he is closing the gap quickly. Currently I am 2nd in the points in Amateur Formula Open behind that same guy by 29 points, and only 5 points ahead of BMW guy. I am also 3rd in the Overall Amateur Championship. ZX10 guy is in 2nd and BMW guy is in first because he also races middleweight amateur on an R6, so he is loading up on point doing 8 races a weekend to my 4 races a weekend.

Round 3

Saturday:

Qualifying: Qualifying went well with 4 back to back laps in the 1:56.x range, which would be the fastest laps I turned all weekend. This put me 3rd on the grid for Saturday, and 2nd on the grid for Sunday. (We had a new guy in the class who qualified ahead of me, but only raced Saturday.)

AmFO: Had bad a start in my first race of the weekend. I decided to try 1000rpms more for the start than I normally do. The front wheel came up, I did not handle it well and chopped the throttle. Got swallowed up by the riders behind me. Worked my way back to 3rd by the middle of the race. Over 10s behind the leaders at the end of the race, and 0.1s ahead of 4th. Best lap 1:57.9

ASSO: Had another bad start for the same reason as the AmFO race. Again lost a bunch of spots, got back into 4th pretty quick, but it was at least 10s of pavement in front and behind. A boring solo track day type of race. Best lap 1:57.3

Sunday:

ASSO: Went back to 9000rpm for the start, wound up in 3rd through turn 1, regained the spot early only to lose it to another rider on lap 2. 2nd place rider managed to build a 2 second gap or so, which I managed to close back down on lap 5. I saw an opportunity to pass, but decided to be patient and use that spot on the last lap. My plan worked like a charm, I made a clean easy pass with 6 corners to go and managed to keep the 2nd spot to the line! Best lap 1:56.7

AmFO: Got another good start and wound up in 2nd spot. Lost that position early to my BMW riding friend (who was on his R6 for some reason). Felt lame losing to a 600, but I held down a lonely 3rd place and brought home some hardware. Best lap 1:57.0

Overall temps were cold all weekend and I had trouble feeling confident, so I had a hard time going with the lead group. I am happy to have scored some points, brought home some trophies and most importantly brought home a shiny bike.

Highs were in the upper 60s, which was great for races mid day. Night time temps were in the 40s so it took a while for the pavement to heat up. Mid day races were perfect weather, but any morning or late afternoon laps were kind of sketchy. So in 3 rounds average temps dropped 50 degrees!

We deal with 40s quite a bit, and it usually comes with fog/mist, so you have a cold track that is kind of damp, but not really. Not the best conditions! Upper 60s and into the low 80s are perfect though. Quite a temperature range over rounds for sure - must make tire choice interesting. We always talk about going down there for one of the winter series rounds, but it's just too long of a drive.

You guys have it way worse than we do! I will be moving to Minnesota next summer, so I will start having to deal with more weather situations for sure. Saturday I ran a Medium Dunlop slick in hopes of avoiding cold tearing (recommended by our trackside vendor), but Sunday I ran a soft compound. I didn't get any tearing on either tire and the soft was the more confidence inspiring choice for sure.

I rode with a dude two weekends ago from Washington who stores stuff at Chuckwalla and flies down to ride. His name is Mark and has long hair (maybe you know him?) I think he races WMRRA. You should try to get in with that guy!

This update is coming a little late, but here is the news from Round 4 January 19 and 20.
The week leading up to this race round was a little wild for me. My dad had gone in for bypass surgery Jan 11 and had complications while on the table and was in the critical care unit for for 8 or 9 days. Going into the race weekend things were still uncertain for my dad. Then on Tuesday the 15th, I was hit from behind while driving down an on-ramp to get on the freeway. It had been raining, and Vegas streets are ridiculously slippery when wet. I lost control of my truck and spun out and ultimately rolled through a ditch. I walked away unscathed, but my beloved Ford Ranger drove its last mile that day. I decided that going racing was the best medicine to clear my head.

Saturday:
Am. SS Open - Got a bad start from 2nd on the grid and wound up in 4th. I bided my time and picked up 3rd on lap 3 and 2nd on lap 5. Wound up in 2nd place with a time of 1:55.1. Even though I had a bad start, this was a fun race as I enjoyed working to earn back my spot.

Am. Formula Open - Started from 2nd on the grid again, maintained 2nd spot the whole race. Super boring race, 1st was 12 seconds up the road and I have no idea where 3rd place was, but he was nowhere close. Basically a track day session.

Sunday:
Am Formula Open: Started 2nd on the grid. Kept my 2nd spot into the first turn and was only a couple bike lengths back from 1st. I decided to be patient and slowly worked my way closer. I managed to pass on the 4th lap for 1st. I ran into some backmarker traffic from the Expert wave that goes before us. Going into turn 1 on the last lap I passed the backmarker making it difficult for the guys in 2nd and 3rd in the amateur race to go with me. I picked up the pace a bit and managed to bring home the win with a 5 second margin. Brought home a new best lap this race also. 1:52.9

Am. SS Open: Once again got a terrible start and wound up in 4th. This time my ego got the better of me, in part due to the win in the morning, and I tried to make a pass happen that just wasn't going to work. I got past the guy in 3rd, but almost ran into the back tire of the guy in 2nd. I had to brake really hard to avoid hitting him, and in doing so, I lost the front tire and hit the deck at +/- 75mph. I now have a crashed bike and a broken collar bone.

I am now almost 3 weeks into my recovery and it is going well, probably going to miss Round 5, but hopefully will be back for Round 6. It still looks like I can salvage at least 3rd overall for the season even if I don't end up on the podium again. Such a crazy week with my dad in the hospital, crashing two vehicles and breaking my collarbone. On the upside, I got two 2nd places, my first real win of the season, and a new personal best lap. Best of all is that my dad is out of critical care and he is making progress.